Photos by Jen Edney / Special to The Star Jeanna Aguilar and other CSU Channel Islands students spend time in the John Spoor Broome Library after its grand opening Friday.

CSU Channel Islands celebrated the grand opening of its John Spoor Broome Library on Friday morning with tributes, a couple of choked-up speakers and a brief ribbon-cutting that consummated more than a decade of work.

"This is a visible and tangible symbol of this university's and this community's commitment to higher education," said President Richard Rush, speaking under gray, chilly skies.

Other speakers in the ceremony, which lasted a little more than an hour, included Charles B. Reed, CSU chancellor; J. Handel Evans, CSUCI president emeritus; and Kathy Long, the Ventura County supervisor whose district includes the campus.

More than 900 people attended the event at the Camarillo campus, including local government and education leaders.

The $62 million library is named for its first major donor, an Oxnard rancher and philanthropist who gave $5 million to the developing university in 1999. At the time, Broome said he believed there was no greater gift than an education.

On Friday, Broome welcomed the audience, saying they were now "part of a new family."

"This is a day of celebration for all who are formally, informally, or just philosophically associated with the university," he said.

Broome received two standing ovations, one when he was introduced and a second when he finished speaking.

The library, which was designed by renowned British architect Sir Norman Foster, features a glass, steel and concrete center. The modern center is flanked by the campus' original 1930s Spanish colonial revival architecture, with its stucco walls and red tile roofs.

The distinctive architecture is symbolic, said Cris Powell, student government president.

"It connects the history and heritage of our campus with 21st century technology," Powell said. "It acts as a cornerstone for our education."

The library is tailored to today's college students, providing group study areas, reading rooms, computer labs, classrooms, a children's area and even a coffee shop.

It will house about 180,000 digital books and 75,000 traditional books, with room for many more. In addition, it has more than 250 computers, as well as 40 laptops that students can check out.

And it's 12 times larger than the university's former library, said Paul Adalian, dean of the university library.

All that space, and all that technology, are welcome additions, said freshman Tessa Crane, 19, sitting in the audience with her parents.

"The other library — we'd go in there to study, and there was no room," Crane said. "All these new computers and stuff, it's really cool."